Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) might be over for customers at 11:59 p.m. Monday, but it’s not over for merchants and marketers. While a successful campaign warrants a well-earned rest, the best time to evaluate whether your promotions were good enough to cut through the noise is while everything is still fresh in your mind.
Remember…BFCM also marks the start of the holiday shopping season and any lessons learned here can be used for the rest of this year, too.
So celebrate your profits and the beginnings of relationships with new clients, but don’t forget the strategic importance of evaluating the campaigns and deals.
Here’s how to measure your success:
Determine revenue earned
Everybody wants to know the total cash flow at the end of this, right? If you set goals, see if you met or exceeded them. If you didn’t, check out how this year’s revenue compared to the profits of Black Friday/Cyber Mondays of the past.
Figure out which channel made you the most money
You promoted your BFCM deals on social media, emails, push notifications and newsletters. Which channel gave you the most bang for your buck? Figure this out so you can more wisely invest for next year.
Measure site traffic
You probably used various channels to increase the top of your funnel. But how many people actually landed on your site over BFCM weekend? How did that number compare to the number of visitors on previous BFCM weekends? Was it what you expected? If not, where did things go wrong?
Evaluate purchasing patterns
Did some products sell better than expected? Or worse? Analyze sales trends to identify products that did particularly well and consider whether pricing, demand or your marketing strategy was to thank. Do the same for those products that didn’t sell as well as expected. Breaking this down can help you improve future marketing efforts so you can better focus your product development and sourcing efforts.
Calculate the new vs. returning customer ratio
Did you attract a lot of brand new customers over BFCM? Were you able to get a good influx of returning customers? If one area is weaker than another, figure out why and see how you can start improving as soon as this holiday season.
Ask your team for their input
Anyone involved in BFCM should be included in the postmortem discussions. Merchants, marketers, customer service, product development, warehouse staff…they all have valuable insights to bring to the table. Ask them to critique this year’s BFCM and brainstorm suggestions for next year.
Jot down what your competitors were doing
Did your competition roll out something that you wish you had thought of? Was it a better email campaign, longer sale periods or an interesting bundle? Take note of all excellent product offerings, price points and marketing strategies so you can come up with even better tactics for next year.
________________________________________________________________________
Maintaining the BFCM momentum
Now that you have new customers, transform them into returning customers by strengthening your relationship with them. You can either be just another website they purchased something from, or you can add value to their lives on a regular basis. Keep in touch with your valued customers with engaging and relevant push notifications and carefully crafted emails. Thank them for their purchase, and try to bring them back for another great deal before the holiday season is over. Strive for a relationship of mutual interest. Consider discontinuing product duds and launching something new to prevent burnout.
Set a calendar alert for September of next year
So much happens over the course of a year. Remind yourself to review the notes and data you gathered by setting an appointment for next fall. Don’t forget to include an indication of where your notes are being stored. Bookmark our handy BFCM hub while you’re at it.
